Cord reel attachment for telephones



Oct. 23, 1951 J w s 2,572,478

CORD REEL ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONE-S Filed Dec. 16, 1948 In ventor 28 Q John H. Hawkins Patented Oct. 23, 1951 ES PATENT OFFICE com) REEL ATTACHMENT FOR N p ELEPnoNEs John H. Hawkins, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application December 16, 1948, Serial No. 65,607

1 Claim.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in attachments for telephone instruments, and the principal object of the invention is to prevent the extension cord connecting the instrument with the junction box from becoming twisted, entangled or otherwise mutilated, particularly when the extension cord is of a considerable length.

This object is achieved by the provision of the instant attachment which is positionable on the instrument and includes in its construction a reel on which the extension cord may be conveniently, expeditiously and easily wound when the full length thereof is not required.

An important feature of the invention resides in the construction of the attachment itself, and another feature involves the provision of means for firmly and securely retaining the attachment in position on the telephone instrument.

Some of the advantages of the invention lie in its simplicity of construction, convenience of operation, and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the invention in situ on a telephone instrument, the latter being partially broken away so as to reveal the manner whereby the attachment is retained in position;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the attachment per se, and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 3-3 of Figure 2 Like characters of references are employed to designate like parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the invention consists of a cord reel attachment; designated generally by the reference character l0, such as is primarily intended for use in association with what is commonly known as a "cradle type telephone instrument l2 including a lower portion [4 consisting of a perimetric flange l6 and an upper portion I8 which is set back from the flange l6 and forms a marginal ledge I8 above the lower portion 14, as will be clearly apparent.

tate retention of the plate 22 above the level of the ledge 20, substantially as shown.

Means are provided for retaining the plate in this position, these means including a flap 26 which is hinged as at 28 to the plate and is equipped with a hook-shaped keeper element 30. This keeper element is adapted to engage the lower edge 32 of the flange [6 so as to retain the plate 22 on the upper portion l8 of the instrument l2, but it is to be noted that the attachment may be readily removed by simply swinging the plate 22 upwardly in the direction of the arrow 34 and thereupon disengaging the element 32 from the flange l6.

An angle bracket 36 has the base portion 38 thereof secured to the plate 22 as at 40', and a reel 42 is secured to the upstanding portion of the bracket 36 by means of a stud 44.

The reel 42 simply consists of a pair of spaced parallel side plates 46 which are retained in their spaced relation by means of a tubular spacer 48 which, in turn, is retained in a concentric position relative to the plates 46 by a pair of end disks 50.

The disks 50 are disposed immediately adjacent the side plates 46, and suitable nuts 52, 54, 56 are provided on screw-threaded portions of the stud 44, whereby the elements of the entire reel are not only secured together, but whereby the reel itself is firmly attached to the upstanding portion of the bracket 36, as has been already described.

It should, of course, be understood that the reel 42 is not rotatable, and when the invention is placed in use the extension cord 56 of the telephone instrument may be simply wound around the spacer 48 of the reel 42 as shown in Figure 1, whereby twisting, entangling, or other distortion of the extension cord is eliminated.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly apparent from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A cord reel attachment; for telephone instruments, comprising a horizontal plate provided with an openingto receive an upwardly tapered base of atelephorie instrument, ag'fiaphinged to 10 one edge of said plate and extending downwardly therefrom, a hook-shaped bracket provided at the lower edge of said flap to engage alower edge JOHN 4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 492,5 8? Pruyn Feb. 28, 1893 726,483 Van Riper Apr. 28, 1903 $90,908 Hunter June 16, 1908 1,171,745 Mundy Feb, 15, 1916 1,930,175 Mather Oct. 10, 1933 2,031,434 Stern Feb. 18, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 725,6!15. France Feb. 15, 1932 

